Killers of the Flower Moon (Adapted for Young Readers): The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

White makes his way to Oklahoma and familiarizes himself with the case materials. At this point, more than four years have passed since the murders of Anna Brown and more than two dozen more Osage men and women. White notices that while the files contain a plethora of thoughts, leads, and rumors, he needs an “unbroken chain of evidence” to ensure his findings stand up in court. He deduces, based on the randomness of murder weapons, location of the bodies, and timing, that whoever is behind the murders hires henchmen. White notes that many of Mollie’s blood relatives were murdered, but she is barely mentioned in the files and never consulted in the investigation.

After familiarizing himself with the case, White realizes he needs to assemble a team of Cowboys from the bureau. The “boy scout” new recruits cannot properly infiltrate the area, nor do they have the ability to manage potentially violent situations, and he needs folks with experience in the Wild West. Notably, White recruits the only Indigenous member of the Bureau, a man named Wren, who is part Ute. He is on thin ice at the bureau because he refused to comply with the new regulations Hoover implemented, but White sees the importance of having an Indigenous person on the team. The bigotry from past agents impeded progress on the case because it led to distrust from the Osage population. Aside from White, who becomes the face of the investigation, and an agent who is recognizable because he has been on the case for years, these Cowboy agents are deep undercover, gathering evidence for the case.

His team of Cowboys slowly slips into Osage land and integrates themselves into society there. Two pose as cattlemen, and William Hale welcomes them into the inner circles of town. Another, a former insurance salesman, opens up a legitimate insurance business in town. Using this front, he can visit witnesses’ and suspects’ homes under the guise of selling insurance. Finally, the Ute man, John Wren, comes into town as an “Indian Medicine man” who claims to be searching for his family. He speaks to certain Osages who refuse to converse with a white federal agent.

White’s team focuses on Anna’s murder. Together, they begin ticking off each suspect’s alibi and narrowing the list of possible murderers. They also recruit a known criminal named Morrison and ensure that he will not be prosecuted for attacking a Prohibition officer if he goes back to Osage territory and begins corroborating alibis. Since he already has relationships with many of the folks on their suspect lists, he becomes a valuable asset, but his criminal past makes people wary of him. When recruiting Morrison, they begin using new forensic techniques and even take his fingerprints in case he decides to run.

Together, they discover that whoever is behind these murders is not only erasing evidence and killing witnesses but also creating false evidence and dead-end trails by forcing people to come forward with false confessions to confuse investigators.

Having confirmed alibis for all of the suspects except one, White turns his attention to Ernest’s brother, Bryan. Bryan’s aunt and uncle claim that Bryan dropped Anna off between 4:30 and 5 p.m. and then met them in town for a play. They claim that the three of them spent the night together. However, they soon discover that Bryan was spotted with Anna in his car that evening after he claims to have dropped her off. They were spotted at multiple speakeasies throughout the night, and toward the end of the night, they were seen with an unidentified third man. When Bryan returned home around sunrise, he was alone and paid his neighbor not to mention the time of his arrival home. Many witnesses who corroborate this timeline have been threatened or paid off to keep quiet or both. The violence has generated intense fear about even conversing with an agent about these murders.

White begins to suspect his investigation has moles. Important papers disappear, and suspects begin to know too much about the investigation. This leads to “White sometimes [meeting] with his team at night in the countryside, the men huddling in the dark like fugitives” (133). White feels like a spy and urges his men to arm themselves and stay vigilant. Eventually, White cracks a private eye called Pike, whom Hale originally hired to investigate Anna’s murders. It turns out that Pike was actually hired by Hale to cover up Bryan’s whereabouts the night of the murder and that Ernest, Mollie’s husband, had attended meetings with Pike and Hale.

Tom White’s mother died when he was young, so his father, a sheriff, raised him right next to a jail in Texas. His experience watching his father and working as a young Texas ranger define his character. At a young age, he learned the value of human life, the importance of deduction, and how to help people. He firmly believes that not all people who do bad things are bad people. Sometimes, they are in a bad situation and make the wrong choice.

White discovers that after the bombing, while Bill lay in the hospital bed dying, the Shoun brothers convinced him to sign over Rita’s estate to them. The Shoun brothers are doctors who are very involved in the Osage community. They “treat” Mollie’s diabetes, but their treatment makes her sicker. They performed Anna’s autopsy and are suspected of disposing of the bullet that killed Ana. They also previously owned the house that Bill and Rita moved into. This leads White to discover the dark underbelly of guardianship: “One government study estimated that before 1925, guardians had stolen at least $8 million directly from the accounts of their Osage wards” (152). With the law and corrupt officials on the side of the guardians, Osages feel helpless without access to their own money.